It has been nearly 2 days since the Straw-Hat Pirates had left Fish-Man Island after defeating Hody Jones, and had now emerged into the New World, the other half of the Grand Line. Thousand Sunny was sailing across the tranquil waters of the Maubeugemour Sea as the Sun above shined down its golden rays. The ship's captain, Monkey D. Luffy, who had eaten the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit that turned his body into malleable rubber, was sitting atop the figurehead of his ship, a large grin plastered on his face.
Zoro was leaning against the rail with his arms crossed over his chest, Brook was laying on a lounge chair sunbathing with a large umbrella over him, Nami and Robin were sitting on the circular chair at the base of the wooden sailing pole, Franky was chasing and trying to catch a butterfly with a net, and Usopp and Chopper were on the ship's other side from where Zoro was, looking over the railing and at the endless sea.
"You know, it's nice to have a peaceful moment like this for once. Especially after all the crazy adventures we've had." Nami said.
"Indeed." Nico Robin nodded to her friend and smiled.
"Hey, Luffy. How's it looking out there?" Usopp asked the captain, who jumped down from figurehead and walked up to them.
"The weather's great and there's no other ships in sight!" Luffy declared with a cheery grin. Then, a rumbling came from his stomach. "Though, all this sailing made me hungry." He said while patting his growling stomach.
"Jeez. You can't go one hour without eating, can you?" Nami sighed.
"Of course not! Everyone needs food to live!" Luffy protested, missing the point Nami was trying to make.
"Now that you mentioned it, I am getting pretty hungry, too." Chopper said, gently patting his own stomach.
"Hey, Sanji! Is food ready, yet?!" Luffy shouted up at the upper deck of the ship where the kitchen room was located.
Opening the door of the kitchen room, Sanji stepped out. "You don't have to yell, moron. And yes, I just finished cooking dinner. The first course is carpaccio, so come and get it."
"Oh, yeah!" Luffy, Usopp and Chopper excitedly exclaimed in unison. The trio then cheerfully made their way up to the kitchen, singing 'Let's eat, Let's eat~!' as they did so. As soon as trio climbed up the upper deck and entered the kitchen, Nami noticed the Log Pose on her wrist behaving unusually — namely, all three needles were spinning around unevenly, similar to how her previous Log Pose's needle was behaving when they crossed the Grand Line and arrived on Fish-Man Island.
Noticing Nami staring at her Log Pose in concern, Robin asked, "What's wrong?"
"I think something might be wrong with my Log Pose. Either that, or..." The navigator said as she stared at her compass before turning to Zoro nearby. "Hey, Zoro. Do you see any islands nearby?"
The swordsman of the Straw hats looked over the rail and at the vast sea, but saw no landmasses in sight. "There's not a single island anywhere near us. Why? Is your compass acting up?"
"You could say that..." Nami replied with uncertainty before looking back on her compass, which was still behaving erratically, the needles were spinning around a bit faster. "What is going on? Are there several islands rapidly teleporting around us somehow?" As outlandish as this theory was, given all the other things Nami had seen during her adventures with Luffy and the Straw hats, the idea of islands somehow telepoarting rapidly wasn't that far fetched.
"It could be the huge fog that we're approaching right now that's making your Log Pose behave weirdly." Brook, still laying on his lounge chair with his hands clasped behind his skull, said without a care in the world.
"Wait, what?!" Nami cried out before she immediately got up and ran over to right side of the ship, and look up ahead. Sure enough, there was an incredibly massive bank of fog that seemed to stretch for miles moving towards their ship at an alarming speed. "Zoro! Why the hell didn't you tell me about this earlier!?" The infuriated Nami asked the swordsman, who was casually leaning against the rail with his arms crossed.
" 'Cause you specifically asked me if there were any islands, and I said there aren't any." Zoro casually replied, earning him a punch to the back of his head from a pissed off Nami.
"You idiot! If my compass is acting strange and there's a weird fog approaching us, then there's obviously a connection! Use your damn head!"
Soon, the other Straw hat pirates started noticing the unusual phenomenon that was approaching Sunny as they raced to the rails of the ship — minus Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Sanji, who were still in the kitchen room.
"My goodness! That fog looks like it's about to gobble us up in one bite!" Brook cried out. "That is, if a fog had a mouth."
"The Maubeugemour Sea is known for its unpredictable weather patterns and mirages." Robin inquired as she stared at the fast-approaching fog intently. "This could be one of those two things."
"Well, I'm betting on the former, as much as I wish it was the latter!" Franky stated.
"The needles of my Log Pose are speeding up!" True to Nami's words, the three needles of her compass have begun spinning around even faster the gigantic fog bank started closing in on Sunny. The same went for the Log Pose located directly behind the ship's helm. "Guys! We gotta steer the ship away from that fog!"
"I don't think that's an option, Nami. Look!" Zoro exclaimed and pointed up ahead.
The 5 pirates looked on in horror as the massive fog bank began approaching Sunny even faster, almost as if the fog itself was sentient and overheard Nami's statement about turning the ship, and thus was now determined to get them before they could do that. There was no time to steer or turn around, the fog was approaching them too quickly, and soon enough, the Straw hats' ship was completely engulfed by the monstrous plume of fog. For the pirates onboard, visibility had just been reduced by about 90% as Sunny continued to sail through the thick haze. To say that this was an unnerving experience for the Straw-hat pirates would be an understatement.
"This is scarier than when we met Brook." Nami shivered in fright as she stared at their surroundings in unease.
"I must agree. This place makes my hair stand on end. That is, if I had any. Yohohohohoh!" The talking skeleton laughed.
"Brook, you do have hair. On your head... or skull." Franky pointed out matter-of-factly.
"Oh, right. I completely forgot about that." Brook awkwardly stated, causing a sweat drop form of the cyborg's head.
"Shh. Everyone, do you hear that?" Nico Robin shushed them and asked warily, giving at her surroundings a cautionary glance.
"I don't hear anything, Robin." Nami said.
"Exactly."
After a brief moment of confusion, the other Straw hat pirates realized that everything was completely and utterly silent. There was no sound of the wind blowing, no sound of water splashing against the ship, no sounds of birds or sea animals swimming; there was only complete and absolute silence as they continued to sail through the thick fog. Even Zoro couldn't help but mentally admit to himself how unnerving and foreboding this was.
Nami looked at her compass, and was surprised to see the needles on her Log Pose have stopped spinning around and all were pointing directly forward. "Guys, my Log Pose is directing us forward." The navigator said.
"So we just keep sailing, then? I'm good with that!" Franky declared with a grin.
After what seemed like an eternity, the foreboding atmosphere began to lift as the ominous fog slowly grew thin and the pirates could see more clearly as the visibility was slowly returning. As the thick fog rapidly shrank and observability grew more and more, the first thing the Straw hat pirates noticed were the silhouettes of massive mountains and hills in the far distance, which were still partially obscured by mist. As Sunny sailed further into this unknown land, the crew began making out more of their new surroundings. They were now in what seemed to be a semi-lake that was almost completely surrounded by misty sea cliffs and mountains, and the sky above was completely cloudy without the sun shining its warm rays on the ground. Soon enough, natural sounds such as water splashing and birds gawking returned, which eased some of the crew members.
"Brrr! The temperature just plummeted completely!" Nami said and wrapped herself with her arms upon feeling the once perfect tropical temperature drop down to a freezing cold.
"It's times like these I regret not wearing pants!" Franky said, who was also shivering.
"Well, at least we finally found ourselves an island to stop by." Robin said.
"That was some good eating! Thanks, Sanji!" The every-cheerful voice of Luffy was heard as the captain exited the door of the kitchen room with a satisfied smile on his face, joined by Usopp, Chopper and Sanji.
"Oh, so now you nitwits think to get your ass over here?" An annoyed and shivering Nami growled, glaring up the trio.
"Huh? What's wrong—" Luffy's would-be question ceased when he and the others saw the foreign environment they were in. "Wow! This place looks cool! When did we get here?"
Nami felt the urge to throw an object at the captain's head for his ignorance. Sanji, noticing her shivering like a leaf due to the sudden and drastic drop in temperature, immediately jumped down and raced over to her before removing his black suit and wrapping it around her in order to keep her warm. "There you go, Nami-san!" Sanji said enthusiastically.
"Thanks, Sanji." Nami smiled in appreciation.
"No thanks are necessary, Nami-san! You're well-being is all I need!" Sanji said, pink heart replacing his eye.
"Oh, no! Are we lost?!" Chopper cried out in paranoia. "We're lost, aren't we!"
"Calm down, Chopper." Usopp said. "I'm sure we'll figure something to get out if this place is unfriendly to pirates."
"We seem to be in some kind of lake that's closely connected to the sea without a river." Robin tapped her chin as she pondered. "It's probable that the fog we passed may have something to do to make this island invisible."
"That doesn't explain why my compass was acting strange earlier." The navigator inquired.
"Oi! You guys might wanna get over here and see this." Zoro, who was standing further up and near the ship's figurehead, called out as he stared at something that was farther up ahead and likely in front of their ship. When the other crew members went over to the front end of the large ship, with Luffy positioning himself atop the figurehead, they gasped at what they saw.
Perhaps 414 meters from Sunny's position was a gigantic temple with a disc-shaped roof present in the center of the lake, connected by an equally-enormous bridge that reached all the way to the shore. Whats more, both the temple and the bridge appeared to be made of solid gold, and atop the roof of said temple was the statue of what appeared to be a middle-aged man with long hair and a long beard, holding a spear in his right arm and a shield in his left. As Sunny continued sailing towards this seemingly ancient building, the Straw hat pirates started noticing something they hadn't noticed before: There were eight tall towers present along the rim of the lake, surrounding the temple that was at the center.
"Wow! Now that's a fine work of art!" Usopp said with a wide grin as he gazed at the temple that they were slowly approaching.
"SUPER COOL!" Luffy, Chopper, and Franky exclaimed in unison and excitement, their eyes replaced by sparkling stars.
"Judging by its appearance, its seems like this building is very old, and likely has been abandoned for a very long time." Robin said, studying the temple's degraded state.
"Let's go check it out!" Luffy cried out, pumping his fist in excitement.
"Yeah!" Usopp and Chopper quickly agreed with him.
"If my eyes aren't laying to me, this place looks like its made out of solid gold!" Nami said enthusiastically, gazing at the huge temple up and down with a gleeful smile. "A place like this could definitely have some kind of treasures or other stuff that's worth millions of Berries! And even if it doesn't, we could sell this whole building for trillions of Berries! Alright, let's go over there!"
"Yuppie!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper jumped in the air as they squealed in enthusiasm.
"You always have your eyes fixated for any possible treasures, don't you?" Zoro grumbled.
"Hey! You're the dumbass who failed to warn us about the coming fog that brought us here! Just be grateful your laziness didn't happen to bring us to a more dangerous island!" Nami yelled at the swordsman, shooting him a steely glare.
With that, Sunny continued sailing towards the abandoned temple. Conveniently enough, there was a dock with a pole and a white flag located on the right side of the lower floor of the temple. When the ship finally arrived and was close enough to the dock, the anchors that resembled lion paws were released and dropped into the water, preventing the ship from drifting off. As soon as Sunny was anchored, Luffy was the first to jump off the ship and neatly land on the dock, where he saw a staircase leading up.
"Come on, guys!" The captain said before running up the stairs.
"Hey, wait up!" Usopp yelled in protest before running up the staircase after the captain.
"Typical, Luffy. Always charging head-first without waiting for the rest of his crew." Sanji sighed, having lighted a cigarette. One by one, each of the Star hats made their way up the staircase. Robin, who was the last to go, stopped for a moment and turned around to see Zoro still on the ship with his arms crossed.
"You coming, Zoro?" She asked.
"Nah. I'll stay here in case some dumbass shows up to try and steal or sabotage our ship." The swordsman replied.
Robin nodded and resumed walking up the staircase.
.
Once she finished climbing up the stairs, Nico Robin found herself standing on the massive platform that gave her and her friends a much better, overall view of their surroundings. They could see almost everything from here, including the tops of some of the hills and mountains that were previously obscured from their view. The massive platform on which they were now standing was filled with various monuments made of gold, including statues of warriors wielding axes that were positioned in perfect symmetrical rows with one another. There were also vaces and circular fire pits as decorations, all made of gold. In spite of its beauty, much like the rest of the temple, this platform and its monuments were covered in moss, algae and other vegetation; a clear indication that this place had been abandoned for a very long time, possibly even centuries.
Despite being an exceptional archaeologist with vast knowledge of history and cultures, Robin was completely unfamiliar with the history of the people who build this temple, why they built it, and even more puzzling, why they abandoned it. Even more strange, there were no Poneglyphs on this platform.
One thing was for certain, though: the Marines and the World Government likely don't know that this place exists, otherwise everything here would have been plundered and stolen.
"I wonder why anyone would abandon this treasure trove?" Sanji asked as he was studying some of the statues, his cigarette in his mouth and hands in his pockets.
"Maybe this place was built by a primitive civilization who doesn't realize what they left behind." Usopp suggested, staring at the tall, snow-covered mountain in the horizon with awe.
"Could be." Sanji shrugged.
"Well, one person's loss is another person's luck." Nami stated, looking at all the immense fortune this place had to offer, and it was theirs for the taking. She honestly had no idea how this could get any better for them.
Meanwhile, Luffy spotted a much smaller, disc-shaped platform farther up ahead, suspended in the air by four golden pillars. Atop this platform, he saw large instrumental horn that was curved in various ways, with its tube facing upwards. Grinning excitedly, the captain ran up to the platform before stretching both his arms and grabbing the edge of the platform, contracting and pulling himself up it.
"Ah, what a lovely view this tower has." Brook said dreamily, staring at some of the structures at were located across the edge of the lake. "Though, I can't help but wonder what purpose those towers over there serve."
"Whatever they do, they look super regardless!" Franky exclaimed, making his signature pose.
"I don't think the World Government knows about this place. At least, not yet." Nami said. "We could make this our temporary residence."
"Well, I'm definitely voting 'yes' on that!" Usopp smiled, his hands on his hips. "What about you, Chopper?" There was no response from the little reindeer, prompting the sniper to look behind and ask again. "Chopper?"
To his surprise, he spotted Chopper silently standing near the edge of the right side of the massive platform, staring at something in the far distance. His face, however, was contorted into that of pure shock, his pupils shrunk and his mouth agape. With a some effort, he was able to move his mouth, and spoke very quietly and uneasily.
"G-Guys... You need to see this..."
Sensing the genuine fear in his voice, the other Straw Hat pirates — minus Luffy — turned to where Chopper was standing and approached him.
"What is it?" Sanji asked.
Slowly, and with a shaking hoof, the little reindeer pointed at something up ahead, amidst the rocky sea cliffs in the far distance. It was then that they all saw what the little reindeer was pointing at... and it made their blood run cold.
Resting its massive head atop a sea cliff was a creature of absolutely titanic proportions, partially obscured by the thick mist that likely contributed to them not noticing the giant beast earlier. But as the mist slowly grew more thin and diminished, the Straw hats started seeing more and more of its mountain-size body, and realized that what they were looking at was a gigantic snake-like creature who's enormous and impossibly long body — some parts of which could now partially be seen among the mountainous terrain — was covered in thick keeled scales that were pale-blue in color. The beast's head, which was likely 143 meters wide in diameter, was rounded and compressed with a short and spatulate snout, and two nostrils located in-between its relatively small eyes that were widely spaced apart. The creature also sported (what at least seemed to be) a beard made of seaweed and other aquatic plants on the bottom of its chin.
The monster's eyes were closed, and the slow flaring of its nostrils were a clear indication that it was asleep.
"Holy cow! What the hell is that thing?!" Usopp's eye were nearly popping out of their sockets as he and his friends gazed at the massive beast with bewildered and terrified looks on their faces.
"I must be a Sea King!" Nami exclaimed, her body having gone pale from the fear of witnessing this giant monster.
"This must be why the people who built this temple abandoned it." Nico Robin concluded, staring at the mountain-sized snake in concern and caution. "That Sea King's presence likely scared them off."
"I can't really blame them, honestly." Sanji said, a wide-eyed stare on his face.
"This thing's gotta be one of the biggest Sea Kings we've ever seen!" Franky exclaimed.
"No kidding!" Usopp and Chopper yelled simultaneously.
"You know, this creature's presence might make for a good scenery to lay back and relax." Brook wondered out loud.
"Like hell it will!" Usopp, Chopper, and Nami yelled at the skeleton simultaneously.
"Nami, we gotta get out of here before that thing wakes up!" Usopp begged.
"As much as I hate to leave this treasure trove behind, you make good point." The navigator sighed in acknowledgment. "We'll just make a quick and thorough search of this temple to see if they're any treasures around, and if there are, we'll take them and be on our way!"
"What?! Oh, come on!" Usopp and Chopper cried out in despair and frustration, only for Nami to cover both of their mouths with her hands.
"Shut up! Do you wanna wake it up?!" Nami angrily yelled at the two before pointing at the sleeping giant. "Listen, if there's treasures in here, we can't just let it go to waste, and that thing defiantly won't be needing it. Besides, that Sea King looks like it's gonna be sleeping for a while. I doubt it'll be waking up anytime soon." She stated confidently.
As soon as those words left Nami's mouth, an extremely loud and deep resonating sound echoed throughout the whole area, and probably could be heard from miles away. Everyone froze in place in silent horror before slowly turning their heads to their left, where they spotted Luffy standing atop a platform at the farther end of the bridge, having just blown the large horn that was located there.
"Haha! What a funny sound this horn makes!" Luffy laughed, blissfully unaware of what he just did. "Maybe we should take it as a souvenir."
"LUFFY! YOU STUPID IDIOT!" All of the Straw hats cried out at the top of their lungs as they yelled up at their clueless captain.
"Huh? What did I do?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion.
Suddenly, a deep growl caused all the Straw hat pirates to shift their attention back at the sleeping serpent, hoping by some chance that the booming sound of the horn their captain just blew wasn't enough to wake it up. Unfortunately, the eyes of the giant snake slowly opened, followed by its nictitating membranes opening horizontally, and reveling the creature's light-orange eyes that had vertical slit pupils.
Nami, Usopp, and Chopper huddled together and cried out in absolute panic when the serpent's eyes shifted in their direction. The other Straw hats became equally alarmed as the beast slowly lifted its head off of the cliff, causing tons of debris to fall into the water below. The heavy sound of the giant snake's scaly body rubbing against the rocky surface of the mountains echoed through the area as the beast slowly raised its head and anterior part of its colossal body in the air, almost like a cobra, before bringing its head close to the side of the bridge where the Straw Hats were standing. They saw several seagulls fly past the giant serpent's face, who didn't appear to notice them, showing just how huge its head alone was, while its light-orange eyes stared directly at them with clear intelligence behind them.
"Wow! That is one huge snake!" Luffy exclaimed in excitement and hopped down from the platform, staring up at the massive beast.
"Now you notice, you moron!?" Nami, Sanji, Chopper, Usopp, and Franky cried out in unison.
"It looks like we'll have to fight our way out of this situation." Robin said, getting ready to use her Devil Fruit powers against the giant serpent.
Suddenly, the beast opened its huge maw, revealing a row of conical sharp teeth inside both its upper and lower jaws, as well as a pair of hinged fangs on the roof of its upper jaw. But instead of attacking them like they expected, the giant serpent instead did something that could only be described as... a verbal communication. The creature opened and closed its mouth while moving its lips in sync, and a booming, guttural voice came from inside its mouth. None of them could understand or comprehend what they were hearing, but Robin could make out syllables and vowels in the creature's booming voice.
"It can talk!?" Usopp cried out in disbelief.
"A talking Sea King? That is awesome!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Who are you?"
A gruff, masculine voice suddenly called out from behind, prompting the Straw hats to turn around and see a middle-aged man and a young boy standing behind them. The man, who was carrying an impressive-looking axe on his back, had an athletic frame with a well-defined and muscular body. He had pale skin and large a red tattoo that went down the majority of his upper body and up to the left side of his face. His head was bald and he had a bushy beard that covered half his face. He wore black leather pants and boots, while his arms were covered with fur-lined leather, secured with thongs of leathers.
The boy next to him, likely his son, appeared to be 11 years old and held a bow in his hand. He had short brown-red hair and icy blue eyes. Much like the man, he was dressed in clothing made of leathers and hides of fur, and with a sash around his waist.
They didn't know it yet, but the Straw Hat pirates were looking at the legendary Ghost of Sparta: Kratos, and his son, Atreus.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As you probably have guessed by now, the Straw hats had arrived in Midgard, specifically the Lake of Nine, and have awakened and encountered Jörmungandr. And now, they are meeting Kratos and Atreus!